James William Rappaport

Deputy County Attorney

Pima County Attorney's Office

James Rappaport is a Deputy County Attorney at the Pima County Attorney’s Office, where he works in the Appeals Section. His past practice areas include zoning and environmental litigation, inverse condemnation, insurance defense, and § 1983 defense for the Tucson Police Department and Pima County Sheriff’s Department. He has also prosecuted DUIs both in Pima County Justice Court and Tucson City Court on behalf of the Pima County Attorney's Office.

James has tried cases to state and federal juries, and he has litigated in the Arizona Court of Appeals, the Arizona Supreme Court, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. James was also an instructor for the Pima County Sheriff’s Academy, where he taught courses in constitutional law and civil rights liability.

He received a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in historical musicology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2014.

James is the current President of the Pima County Bar Association and Chair of the Tucson City Magistrate Merit Selection Commission. He has been published twice in DePaul University’s Issues in Aviation Law & Policy on the subjects of Federal Aviation Act preemption and aviation tort litigation.